About this item
A mesmerizing novel of unfolding dystopia amid the effects of climate change in a world very like our own, for readers of Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven and Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood. In this prequel to Eric Barnes's acclaimed cli-fi novel The City Where We Once Lived, six sets of characters move through a landscape and a country just beginning to show the signs of cataclysmic change. A father and his young children fleeing a tsunami after a massive earthquake in the Gulf. A woman and her husband punishing themselves without relent for the loss of both their sons to addiction, while wildfires slowly burn closer to their family home. A brilliant investor, assessing opportunity in the risk to crops, homes, cities, industries, and infrastructure, working in the silent comfort of her office sixty floors up in the scorching air.
About the Author
Eric Barnes of is the author of the novels Above the Ether (Arcade Publishing 2019) , The City Where We Once lived (Arcade Publishing 2018) , Shimmer, (an IndieNext Pick from Unbridled Books) , and Something Pretty, Something Beautiful (Outpost19) . He has published more than 40 short stories in journals such as Prairie Schooner, The Literary Review and Best American Mystery Stories. www.ericbarnes.net"An eerie, beautifully written, and profoundly humane book." - Emily St. John Mandel, author of STATION ELEVEN, about THE CITY WHERE WE ONCE LIVEDPraise for ABOVE THE ETHER:"Barnes' spare and chilling prose flows from one horrific scene to another without, surprisingly, alienating his readers, perhaps because the heart of his narrative ultimately reveals an abiding faith in the power of human compassion. A first-rate apocalyptic page-turner." - Booklist"In twenty years - or less - people will have a hard time believing that this is a work of the imagination; that's how convincingly Barnes plays out the signs and omens of our times. That he conjures this dark forecast without ever naming a soul or the cities they live in does not make the story more otherworldly, but only more chillingly recognizable." - Tim Johnston, NY Times bestselling author of THE CURRENT"The world of Eric Barnes' novel Above the Ether suffers destruction of Biblical proportions. Flood, fire, pestilence, famine - the rolling cataclysms have an Old Testament tenor and scope. Though the novel builds in intensity as the story lines interweave, it derives its power from the poetic quality of its language." - Chapter 16"Above the Ether depicts a dystopia more terrifying because of its proximity to our own, yet this novel is also saturated by hope. In this world, people can rise above their pasts, and humanity can endure change and hardship. Barnes is also just a terrific writer of both story and sentence." - Elise Blackwell, author of THE LOWER QUARTER and HUNGERPraise for the CITY WHERE WE ONCE LIVED:"Barnes's new novel is a rare and truly original work: a hard-edged fable, tender and unflinching, in which a man's descent and renewal is mirrored by his city. An eerie, beautifully written, and profoundly humane book." - Emily St. John Mandel, author of STATION ELEVEN"Written in a gorgeously spare language that perfectly reflects the dystopic future this novel depicts, The City Where We Once Lived kept me enthralled throughout. At the core is a deep and admirable compassion for humanity." - Chris Offutt, author of COUNTRY DARK"A stunningly-written tale of loss and grief." - Lindsay Moran, former CIA operative and author of BLOWING MY COVER"Spare and elegant, Eric Barnes shows us what it means to inhabit - a building, a city, a life. And also what it means to be inhabited - by memories, by ghosts, and maybe, just maybe, by hope." - Elise Blackwell, author of THE LOWER QUARTER
